San Antonio is Austin's sadder, square-er neighbor to the south, and my memories of this town mostly involve melting in the summer heat on previous trips. But it's also apparently the fastest-growing city in Texas, and there are tons of new restaurants since the last time I was here (2014 for a conference and 2015 during my last family reunion), so I think I can handle being here for a couple of days...
...and I may want to stay even longer than that, but duty calls. I woke up this morning in Austin feeling better than I deserved, and I showered and packed and loaded my car and grabbed an iced coffee before meeting up with Alaska Matt for brunch. We went to Arturo's Underground, which was so incredibly tasty - I often find scrambles to be overcooked/too dry, but this scramble with bacon, onions, mushrooms, jack cheese, avocado, and chipotle hollandaise was perfection on a plate. I also loved their home fries, and the coffee was good, and it was all fast and seamless (and actually underground, since it's in a mostly submerged level slightly below the street). So, that was a great way to wake up, and Matt and I continued our conversation with many jokes until it was time to part ways.
I then drove to San Antonio, where I met up with Laura - she was one of the directors at le Goog many years ago, and we've stayed in touch pretty well since then, since I consider her a mentor and also like her crafting skills. She lives here now, and she offered me a guest room for a couple of nights if I wanted to hang out - and I'm glad I took her up on it, since a) I always have fun hanging out with her, and b) there's lots of great food and drink to indulge in while having our long, winding conversations. When I got here, she made me a Moscow mule (she doesn't drink but insists on keeping her guests well-lubricated), then we ordered food and picked it up (some carnitas hash for me that was so good that I ate almost all of it even though I hadn't thought I was hungry yet), and then I sat around with her and her husband and son and drank some white wine and generally enjoyed their company.
At some point it rained, but when it stopped, Laura, Dave (her husband) and I walked over to the Pearl, which is an old brewery complex that has been completely redone into a bunch of restaurants, shops, and luxury condos, along with a hotel that looks to-die-for. We stopped in for a drink at the hotel bar, and I think I'll go back there and write tomorrow. Then we wandered around a bit and got some ice cream (ice cream is not one of my go-to foods, but this was worth it), then walked home, and then Laura and I talked about career stuff for quite awhile (we had started this conversation at the bar, and then continued it for another hour at home, but I'm not going to tell you anything about any of it because I'm evil and also lazy).
Then we went to the grocery store to get salad-type stuff for dinner, since I wasn't hungry and neither of us felt like going out. And now I'm going to go to bed at an entirely reasonable hour (10:45! but that's 11:45 on the east coast...but my body doesn't know where I am anymore anyway). Tomorrow could be a glorious free day for writing since Laura's working and Dave's going out of town, so I'm going to get up and walk over to the Pearl and eat breakfast and probably lunch and drink a lot of coffee and do some people-watching. Goodnight!
...and I may want to stay even longer than that, but duty calls. I woke up this morning in Austin feeling better than I deserved, and I showered and packed and loaded my car and grabbed an iced coffee before meeting up with Alaska Matt for brunch. We went to Arturo's Underground, which was so incredibly tasty - I often find scrambles to be overcooked/too dry, but this scramble with bacon, onions, mushrooms, jack cheese, avocado, and chipotle hollandaise was perfection on a plate. I also loved their home fries, and the coffee was good, and it was all fast and seamless (and actually underground, since it's in a mostly submerged level slightly below the street). So, that was a great way to wake up, and Matt and I continued our conversation with many jokes until it was time to part ways.
I then drove to San Antonio, where I met up with Laura - she was one of the directors at le Goog many years ago, and we've stayed in touch pretty well since then, since I consider her a mentor and also like her crafting skills. She lives here now, and she offered me a guest room for a couple of nights if I wanted to hang out - and I'm glad I took her up on it, since a) I always have fun hanging out with her, and b) there's lots of great food and drink to indulge in while having our long, winding conversations. When I got here, she made me a Moscow mule (she doesn't drink but insists on keeping her guests well-lubricated), then we ordered food and picked it up (some carnitas hash for me that was so good that I ate almost all of it even though I hadn't thought I was hungry yet), and then I sat around with her and her husband and son and drank some white wine and generally enjoyed their company.
At some point it rained, but when it stopped, Laura, Dave (her husband) and I walked over to the Pearl, which is an old brewery complex that has been completely redone into a bunch of restaurants, shops, and luxury condos, along with a hotel that looks to-die-for. We stopped in for a drink at the hotel bar, and I think I'll go back there and write tomorrow. Then we wandered around a bit and got some ice cream (ice cream is not one of my go-to foods, but this was worth it), then walked home, and then Laura and I talked about career stuff for quite awhile (we had started this conversation at the bar, and then continued it for another hour at home, but I'm not going to tell you anything about any of it because I'm evil and also lazy).
Then we went to the grocery store to get salad-type stuff for dinner, since I wasn't hungry and neither of us felt like going out. And now I'm going to go to bed at an entirely reasonable hour (10:45! but that's 11:45 on the east coast...but my body doesn't know where I am anymore anyway). Tomorrow could be a glorious free day for writing since Laura's working and Dave's going out of town, so I'm going to get up and walk over to the Pearl and eat breakfast and probably lunch and drink a lot of coffee and do some people-watching. Goodnight!
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